I have spent quite a bit of time the past few days reading LBW's account , trying to get a clear understanding of what is going on here . The way LBW has written this account I found it very confusing .
I am really torn , because i know people get hurt by confusing information - but I also feel it is really disrespectful to be dragging such things through the mud of uninformed non Lakota public opinion .
As this information is already out there and is creating confusion and this confusion might be used to unfairly discredit something that should not be discredited , I am making the choice to go over some of this information , but if this had not already been posted in a way I find confusing I would not feel comfortable to talk about anything as Sacred as a Pipe in this way .
That this confusing information seems to be being used to create doubts about the authority and competance of the Lakota / Nakota / Dakota people , when it comes to the maintanince of their own cultural traditions , I find really appauling . ( The bold highlights are my own )
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:hFVMwquLOc8J:siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp%3Furi%3Dfull%3D3100001
~!92671!0+%22Martha+Bad+Warrior%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=ca
Date: 1936 (3 months before Mrs Bad Warrior's death).
Photographer: Wilbur A. Riegert, Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
Summary:
Excerpts from letter from R. DeMallie, 5400 Greenwood Avenue, Chicago, 60615, dated 9/26/66: "The picture shows Mrs Martha Bad Warrior holding the Sacred Buffalo Calf Pipe - the main content of the most sacred of the Sioux medicine bundles. (con..)
Extract from Indian Voices, July, 1966 page 4 (reprinted from The Sioux Journal): Custodian of Mystic Calf Pipe Dies at Green Grass, S. D. Mrs Lucy Looking Horse, the second woman to ever be the custodian of the Mystic Calf Pipe died April 12 at her home in Green Grass, South Dakota. Over many generations, dating back several hundred years, the only other woman so honored as administrator of the pipe was Mrs Martha Bad Warrior who was Lucy's mother. (con..)
The sacred pipe has been handed down from one generation to another. The original family who administered the pipe was the Elk Head family. In recent years, Mrs Bad Warrior, who died in 1936,passed it on to her half brother Ernest Two Runs, also of Green Grass. The latter gave possession of the pipe to Ehli Bad Warrior in 1942. Upon Ehli's death in 1959, it passed to Mrs Lucy Looking Horse. It is not known who Mrs Looking Horse designated as heir to the pipe. (con..)
Copy (9/66) from original photograph loaned to SOA-A by Mrs Belva Jack, Mission, South Dakota (through R. DeMallie, 5400 Greenwood Avenue, Chicago 60615).
Written on back of print: "Property of Wilbur A. Riegert, Wounded Knee, S. Dakota. "Died October 25 - 1936 [Must refer to Mrs Bad Warrior]. "Given to Lucy Looking Horse on 10-29-64 by W. A. Riegert, Everett C. Jordan, Mrs A. M. Clark." [Lucy Looking Horse died in April, 1966. At the giveaway after her death, this picture was given to Mrs Belva Jack.]
"This picture, as you see, belonged to Mrs Looking Horse (Lucy H.), the daughter of Martha, and the keeper of the sacred pipe. She died last May. At the giveaway after her death this picture was given to Mrs Belva Jack, of Mission, S. D., a distant relative [who lent it to Ray DeMallie]. ...Although there is no doubt that this is the sacred pipe, it is denied by the modern day keeper's family. They claim it is a replica of the sacred pipe. This helps throw ethnographers off the track. The family says this was not the real pipe, no white man has ever seen the pipe
(my bold )
The Sacred Calf Pipe is now generally believed to be in the keeping of Arvol Looking Horse .
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:PuIbeQrbgbQJ:www.defendbearbutte.org/beer_sales_get_ok.htm+%22Sacred+Calf+Pipe
%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=25&gl=ca“Bear Butte is a sacred place, and we need to keep it as our grandfathers (kept it),??? said Looking Horse, who is revered in Lakota religion as the keeper of the sacred calf pipe. “When we sit on top of Bear Butte, we communicate with our creator.![Huh ???](http://newagefraud.org/smf/Smileys/default/huh.gif)
The fact that Arvol is the keeper is recognized by his tribe .
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:enlrunSDWbYJ:www.sioux.org/our_flag.html+%22Sacred+Calf+Pipe%22&hl=
en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=caCHEYENNE RIVER SIOUX TRIBE FLAG
The Blue represents the Thunder Clouds above the world where live the thunder birds who control the four winds. The rainbow is for the Cheyenne River Sioux People who are keepers of the Most Sacred Calf Pipe, a gift from the White Buffalo Calf Maiden.
This generally accepted information appears to be contradicted by this article , which says Calvin Dupris
was given the Sacred Calf Pipe .
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:xxTWwS_PK_0J:www.manataka.org/page870.html+%22Calvin+Dupree%
22+Fools+crow&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=caThe author, Calvin Dupree, was pierced in the Sun Dance ceremonies led by Frank Fools Crow, Ceremonial Chief of the Western Teton Sioux for five years, from 1970 to 1975, one more year than required by tradition. He was bestowed the Sacred Calf Pipe, the C'anupa Wakan by Fools Crow in August, 1971.
This information that may have come from her father , is echoed on one of LBW's webpages ;
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:EoiEh-8-O3QJ:www.lookingbackwoman.com/+%22Calvin+Dupree%22+
Fools+crow&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=caSuzanne Dupree also known as Looking Back Woman whose father Calvin Dupree was bestowed the C'anupa Wakan( Sacred Ceremonial Calf Pipe )By Lakota ceremonial chief Franks Fools Crow
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:XbT_TxEf1VAJ:www.lookingbackwoman.com/Aftermath.htm+%22Fools+Crow%22+White
+buffalo+calf+pipe&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca
Dupree claims Frank Fools Crow's first objective was now accomplished. The most sacred object in Sioux culture was now safely off the reservation and away from the hands of those who would misuse and possibly abuse the Pipe.
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What appears to be being claimed , ( above) seems to be completely contradicted when you read through what is said below ;
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http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:zTFjbf62YFYJ:www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.6.FEATURES.%2520LBW.
PART.1.htm+%22Arvol+Looking+Horse%22+Calf+pipe&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=39&gl=ca
LBW: No, I do not have Martha Bad Warriors Cannunpa. (con..)
I want to clarify this. I know this is confusing but this is important. John Fire talks about Martha and the Cannunpa.
The legbone (WBCPW) (the cannunpa Martha buried 1936-1987)?
The catlinite (Martha) cannunpa (with the spider, turtle, buffalo on the stem)....I do not have either one of these.
(con..)
I have what Fools Crow used as his Sun Dance Cannunpa.
and this ;
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:4oNB55X_MUUJ:www.lookingbackwoman.com/The%2520Wind%2520is%
2520Blowing.htm+%22Looking+Back+Woman%22+fraud&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=cDuring a May 2006 interview with Looking Back Woman, she said, "The Pipe described by Wilbur A. Riegert during interviews in 1936 with Martha Bad Warrior do not match the Pipe now carried by me.
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There is another confusing contradiction as LBW makes one claim that the Pipe identified as Fools Crows Sundance Pipe , that was passed to Calvin Dupree , was used as a template to make 14 copies ;
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:zTFjbf62YFYJ:www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.6.FEATURES.%2520LBW.PART.1.htm+%22
Arvol+Looking+Horse%22+Calf+pipe&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=39&gl=caWhat I have is what Fools Crow had. George Bryant/Standing Eagle make a copy (from the one I have), then he made a template that the 14 for the Seven Council Fires were made from.
But here LBW claims these 14 copies are exact replicas of the "First Pipe "
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:4oNB55X_MUUJ:www.lookingbackwoman.com/The%2520Wind%2520is%2520Blowing.htm+%22Looking+Back+Woman%22
+fraud&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=c We also know from Sioux history that quite some time later fourteen (14) other pipes were made and patterned after the First Pipe.
Two pipes were given to each of the seven Sioux Nations. (con ..)
Each Nation picked senior pipe carriers, (con..)
This practice continued for centuries among the Sioux, Cree, Mandan, Ojibwa, and Assiniboine nations.
fourteen (14) more pipes were made in the 1940's that were patterned exactly after the First Pipe.
Frank Fools Crow commissioned Standing Eagle, aka, George Bryant, an Ojibwas-Lakota pipe maker in Pipestone, Minnesota to make duplicates from the First Pipe
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So if Martha Bad Warrior had the First Pipestone Pipe , and LBW clearly states she does not have this First Pipe , and the Pipe she has is Fool Crow's Sundance Pipe , it cannot be true that these 14 copies "were patterned exactly after the First Pipe" and also from the Fool Crow's Sun Dance Pipe that is currently held
by LBW , which she says herself , is of a different description .
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And then there is evidence that LBW's Pipe is actually one of these copies ;
Moreover, Ritchie points out that the words "Standing Eagle," written in English are carved on the bottom of the Pipe held by Dupree. Ritchie traced this signature to a 1940's era master pipe maker in Minnesota - George Bryan, who once repaired the pipe.
What appeared to be a hairline crack or break had been repaired by Bryan with a very high skill level, but a little glue had extruded to reveal it. Otherwise the repair is nearly invisible.
We conjecture that as an master pipe maker, Bryan -- Standing Eagle -- would not carve his name on the bottom of Dupree's Pipe if he were simply repairing it.
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It is very confusing that LBW has given no information about the lineage and history of the Pipe she carries , before it was passed to her father, but instead , she gives extensive information on the history and lineage of another Pipe , that she clearly says she does not have .
She clearly states the First Pipe , she offers so much information about - often using Riegart as a source - is not the Pipe she has in her possesion but the Pipe she has is the Sundance Pipe used by Fools Crow .
Which is the same thing said by Vivien High Elk .
The only debate here is what sort of Spiritual authority this Sundance Pipe might confer , and this needs to be decided by the Elders in the Lakota community .Clearly this is not the same as the bundle the Looking Horse Family is generally believed to be caring for - though LBW repeatedly confuses the issue by seeming to imply that it is .
I am not sure how credible a source Riegart's book actually is . I notice that the information in the first link which is included with the Smithsionian Inst. photograph , which was taken by Riegart , the story which LBW says was reported by Riegart , of Martha passing the Pipe to Andrew Dupris who passed this to Fools Crow - is entirely absent , and what is there is the more widely accepted version of events . As this information is dated 1966 , before AIM burned any history , this discrepency cannot be blamed on AIM destroying historical documents , as seems to be suggested by LBW .
I see Reigarts book had only 18 copies printed , and it seems to have been written in 1975 .
When all the superfulous information is striped away it seems her main point is wanting to discredit the authority of Arvol Looking Horse .
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:FzLAK7Au_OoJ:www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/02/18/news/top/news02.txt+%
22mARTHA+bAD+wARRIOR%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=ca
There is also comments on LBW's webpage that she does not feel comfortable in the native community ,
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:XbT_TxEf1VAJ:www.lookingbackwoman.com/Aftermath.htm+%22Fools+Crow%22+White
+buffalo+calf+pipe&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca
In the meantime, Calvin Dupree and his daughter had returned to Seattle where they both settled back into quiet academic life. He was teaching and she was a student.
The reservation frightened Suzanne and had since she was a child. She did not understand the constant political turmoil that seemed to envelop every family. She closed her eyes against the rampant crime and she did not feel safe there.
Suzanne says that she did not feel like she belonged there. It was war-zone in her mind and the reservation was not a place she wanted to be - at least not for very long after spiritual ceremonies.
Life in the Seattle area was comfortable for the Dupree family and the C'anupa Wakan was safe and well cared for by Calvin who performed daily prayer ceremonies with the Pipe according to Lakota protocols.
Dupree claims Frank Fools Crow's first objective was now accomplished. The most sacred object in Sioux culture was now safely off the reservation and away from the hands of those who would misuse and possibly abuse the Pipe.
Again , the accuracy of her beliefs about Fool Crow's intentions is something which can only be decided by Elders within the Lakota community .What I see that concerns me is that LBW seems to be uncomfortable in the Native world and looking to the non native world to support her claim to having some sort of authority .
Apparently she really disagrees with the proclomation to protect Ceremonies that attempts to achieve this through maintaining these traditions within the balance provided by a knowledgeable Native community .
I don't see excluding non native people from some ceremonies as being unfair. In my opinion , it is simply the recognition that these ceremonies need the balance provided by a deeply rooted , knowledgeable Lakota community to stay healthy .
I don't see how any reasonable person could read through these webpages and conclude there is no need to have any protective bounderies . No matter where the lines are drawn there will be a few people who will end up unfairly on the wrong side of the line . The abusers and exploiters are the ones to confront about that , not the people and Elders who are doing what they have been forced to do , to protect and maintain traditions in a healthy and balanced way -within the context of a Native community .
I really hope these words help clarify some of the confusion around this . I again apologize to the Lakota people who may feel violated to see this being discussed in a public forum at all .
Oh ..and one more thing ..
When Vivien High Elk said " So what if it is not here ?" , what I thought she was saying , was "Why are you so obessed with this, and having proof, beyond the good Spiritual results these things bring ?" . I did not interpret this as meaning that she she did not know where this bundle was , and didn't care .